Time element

Ask the rich to define 'luxury' and they'll look to the clock

ThomasKostigen

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- The one thing rich people can agree on is that they want more time; they value it most.

The Consumer Research Center of the well-respected Conference Board surveyed almost 2,000 affluent consumers around the world and found that luxury defined is time.

"Consumers have remarkably similar perspectives on how to define luxury," says Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center. "The largest share of luxury consumers (44%) and the largest share of consumers in each country most strongly agree that 'luxury is having enough time to do whatever you want and being able to afford it.' So, for luxury consumers worldwide, time is the ultimate luxury."

After time, "life experiences" and "comfort, beauty and quality" added up to luxury for most well-off consumers.

About one-quarter of the respondents agreed that luxury is less about the material things one has or one owns and more about how one experiences life, a sense of happiness and satisfaction, with an equal number saying luxury is being comfortably well off and not having to worry about tomorrow.

In terms of fun stuff, affluent consumers go for high-tech gadgets and travel. Using a personal computer, the Internet, or a cell phone, rank as the most-participated-in lifestyle activities by nearly three-fourths of all luxury consumers, while travel comes next, with 69% of luxury consumers worldwide reporting an interest, the Consumer Research Center survey found.

In terms of status, antiques and rare items ranked the most popular followed by artwork and vacation homes. Americans led in ownership of antiques and rare items. Italians are more likely to own original art and have the highest share of vacation or second homes, the survey says.

The next most widely owned status luxuries include collections of fine jewelry and watches, fine musical instruments and collections of fine wine and spirits. Chinese luxury consumers led the other countries in ownership of fine jewelry and watches and in fine wine and spirits ownership, while the French consumers have the highest incidence of fine musical instrument ownership.

Japanese consumers are noticeably absent from much of the list, and trail the most in enjoying luxury lifestyle activities, the survey found.

Meanwhile, it says American consumers like cable/satellite television, pets, physical fitness, health foods, electronics, and investing in stocks and bonds. British consumers are distinctive in their strong interest in Internet and cell-phone usage, videos/DVDs, wine, gourmet goods, health foods, avid book reading, and cable/satellite TV. German consumers are more involved in reading books, attending cultural events, gardening, and home furnishings. Italian consumers share many of the same interests as those in Germany, but they are more active in travel. French consumers are similar to those in Germany and Italy, too, but with an even greater interest in gourmet food and wine. And China has the greatest interest in photography, electronics, and home furnishings.

A measure of quality

Despite the emphasis on finer things, luxury isn't about the cost or the brand name of goods, consumers polled in the survey say.

"For the largest share of luxury consumers, luxury is not specifically related to how much something costs or what brand it might be," says Pamela Danziger, the author of the Consumer Research Center survey. "Luxury is highly personal and something the individual interprets and judges for him or herself. But while luxury is highly personal and separated from price and brand, luxury is expected to be something with a quality that sets it far above the ordinary product."

Just what comprises that elixir is what keeps luxury manufacturers on the hunt for appealing goods and services. Who would have thought that a canvas grocery bag, for example, could fetch several hundred dollars?

It's the "experience" that counts. It's what a person experiences, interprets and feels about his or her own luxury lifestyle -- not what some neighbor, colleague or co-worker thinks, the survey found. And while brands don't necessarily define luxury either, many luxury consumers look to the brand and the brand's reputation as a signal of quality.

With a surge in the number of millionaires worldwide, and wealth-management shops springing up and down Wall Street, luxury goods makers may want to take note that securing a spot on luxury consumers' shopping list won't come as easily as a high price or logo.

"Luxury is about the feelings the consumers get," the Consumer Research Center says.

So how to box it? The highest priced item would be a watch that moves backwards. Otherwise, it seems, they'll have to use time wisely and be in constant search of a tipping point.

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